On Heterochromatic Cats and the Certainty of Impending Doom
by Rikkamaru
Summary: Nijimura went to Rakuzan. It just made everything worse, but in a good way. One-shot, slight Nijiaka.


Don't own Kuroko no Basuke.

Don't own the Cover Art.

On Heterochromatic Cats and the Certainty of Impending Doom

* * *

Seijuurou huffed in annoyance as he waited for Kotarou to arrive. Something had been distracting him during the morning practice, with the small forward rushing through all of his drills and vibrating in place with the force of his excitement. And now he was late to afterschool practice.

Seijuurou was not pleased.

"He'll be here soon, Sei-chan," Reo soothed, not looking at all surprised by their missing member's actions. "His roommate came back from visiting his family in the states. He can't help but be a bit happy to see him again."

"That doesn't excuse his lateness," the young captain said firmly, already planning fitting punishment for Kotarou when he arrives. He didn't have to wait long.

"And our new captain is sooo scary! He's good but he scares the ever-living crap out of me! When he first showed up I was like, 'Yep, we're screwed. We're totally screwed!' And Reo-nee was like, 'Quiet down, Koutarou, Sei-chan's going to be the best captain yet.' And I was like, 'Nooo, cause Shuuzou-nii was the best captain when we played streetball.' And then –"

"Shut up Hayama. You haven't stopped talking since I've gotten back and I will punch you soon if you keep it up."

"Waah, so mean." Kotarou walked in then, and saw Seijuurou glaring death at him. Squeaking in slight fear, the small forward only lasted for a moment before Seijuurou's annoyed, "Kotarou…" pushed him to hide behind the teen he'd just been talking to, and Seijuurou would have had the intruder leave immediately if shock and realization hadn't made him motionless.

"Nijimura-san," he breathed, hardly believing his eyes as his former captain stood before him now, looking less stressed and healthier than he had at the end of his final year at Teikou.

The person in question appeared somewhat surprised but smiled none the less at his kouhai. "Akashi. I didn't know you were schooling here. Then again," he frowned thoughtfully and elbowed the cowering small forward behind him, "you'd think I would what with how much Hayama talks about you despite him never using your actual name."

"How have you been Nijimura-san? I wasn't aware you were attending Rakuzan." Seijuurou berated himself for not keeping track of Nijimura after graduation. He knew that he had gone to the states for a while, but it appears that he returned at some point and was now attending his school. He'd have to rectify that oversight immediately. "Are you on the basketball team? You must stay for practice."

At some point Seijuurou had moved closer to the two, causing Kotarou to whimper in fear, but Nijimura just smiled gratefully and ruffled Seijuurou's hair. "Thanks Akashi. Yeah, I'll stay for practice if you want. And no, I couldn't join the team, I had to find a job last year to try and help support my family."

Seijuurou leaned into his former captain's hand when he starting ruffling his hair but opened his eyes reluctantly at his words. "That's unacceptable," he frowned, nudging the hand on his head demandingly when it stopped moving. "You can be our manager, and Rakuzan will compensate you for your time."

"Is that a suggestion or an order?" His senpai teased, and Seijuurou was reminded of just why he missed Nijimura during his third year.

"It's a promise," he swore, and Nijimura laughed and ruffled his hair again. When his nails accidentally scraped against his scalp Seijuurou nearly melted on the spot, and that settled it.

Nijimura was joining the team.

* * *

"Is it just me or have the practices suddenly become much harder?" Reo panted as he struggled to remain standing and continue to cool down. He nodded his thanks as Shuu swept by and handed him a towel and water bottle, receiving a small smile back. 'He's quite the gentleman,' Reo thought happily, sighing in relief as he drank from the water bottle.

"It's not just you," Nebuya grunted back, not even drinking the water and instead pouring it over his head. Reo shrieked in disgust out of reflex, and Shuu smacked the center with a towel.

"If I have to get the mop out, I will beat you with it," their new manager warned, and Nebuya grumbled but actually drank the rest of the water obediently.

Shuu nodded and walked off, probably to continue passing out whatever the other players needed. "It's not just you," Nebuya repeated. "Akashi suddenly doubled our drills. I think Hayama's having a nervous breakdown over there." Reo followed the center's finger and, sure enough, Kotarou was rocking back and forth, muttering to himself.

The shooting guard moved closer to him immediately, concerned. "Kotarou? Is everything alright?"

"We keep running." The small forward said, staring straight ahead. "We keep running but _we're not going anywhere_, Reo-nee; we're not. Why aren't we going anywhere? Why can't we stop running? Why?"

Yep, he's lost it.

"Shuu-chan?" Reo called out, and Shuu appeared at his elbow, curious. "I think Kotarou needs help."

"I could have told you that," Shuu joked, but knelt by Kotarou and brushed his hand over his bangs to get a clear look at his face. He observed the orange-haired boy for a moment before letting out a breath and smacking him on the back of the head. "Wake up Hayama, or I'm not making dinner tonight." An instant later Kotarou was standing and looking as if he wasn't even aware of his recent breakdown.

"I'm awake, Shuuzou-nii! Don't take the food!" He grinned at Shuu eagerly and accepted the water bottle and towel. His grin widened when Shuu snorted in amusement and ruffled his hair.

"Whatever, you brat. I hope you know that being your roommate makes me feel twice my age." Shuu shook his head ruefully before turning and nodding to Reo. "Everything seems good now, Mibuchi. Tell me if you need anything else." And with that their manager headed towards Sei-chan, who Reo now noticed had been keeping an eye on their interaction for some reason.

By the time Mayuzumi joined the first-string Reo noticed that whatever had pushed Sei-chan to make their practices more brutal had spread to all of them, none of the first-string complaining at all and instead pushing even harder on their own. Any possible weakness in Kotarou's ball-handling skills was nonexistent now, Nebuya's rebounds rarely failed, and even Reo could admit to staying longer after practice to work on his three-pointers in all three forms.

Reo didn't really understand either, but the introduction of Mayuzumi to their group actually provided an answer, or at least a suspicion.

Mayuzumi struggled horribly in the first few days, due both to the more rigorous training menu of the first-string and the fact that the just mentioned menu was doubled when Sei-chan had that unusual change of heart regarding their practices. As such the poor former third-string player was definitely struggling to play catch up.

He was lying on the ground panting one day, the other first-string members looking at him dispassionately, when Shuu went up to him and placed a water bottle near his head. When Mayuzumi didn't even twitch in response Reo was close enough to see Shuu raise an eyebrow before dropping the towel directly on the power forward's face.

Mayuzumi jerked up at that, and must have said something snappy because Shuu snorted and shot something back unflappably. Reo spent the next few minutes watching as the two traded barbs until Shuu outright laughed at something the grey-haired boy said and nudged him with his knee. Mayuzumi looked startled at the action but responded positively and soon Shuu was standing and offering Mayuzumi a hand up. The power forward accepted the help and Shuu pulled him up with little difficulty, nudging him again before moving to talk to some of the other players, Mayuzumi slowly trailing after him.

Reo watched all of this with wide eyes, hardly believing how much Mayuzumi's attitude seemed to improve after talking to Shuu. Before he could think any more about what he had just seen, Sei-chan's voice cut through the air. "Reo, quit staring at Chihiro and get back to practice."

"Yes Sei-chan," he answered back immediately, returning to the three-point line, his mind buzzing with thoughts. Looking back at his captain, Reo saw that Shuu had joined him by then and felt his suspicions rise as Sei-chan practically draped himself over their manager as they discussed something on the clipboard in Shuu's hands.

* * *

Since Akashi wasn't done training him, and he didn't want to have his trump card brought to attention just yet anyway, Chihiro was stuck on the sidelines for the game against Yousen that day. Fortunately, the only other sane person on the first-string was also delegated to the sidelines, and so Chihiro took great pleasure in sitting next to Nijimura on the bench, leaning against the second-year as he read one of his light novels.

"Is it any good?" Nijimura asked curiously, tilting his head a little to get a better view of the page, and Chihiro smiled a bit before moving the book to a more viewable position for his kouhai.

"It's alright, a good read that I can get out of easily if I need to focus on the game for some reason." Nijimura nodded in understanding and read with him a little bit before returning his attention to the game (Chihiro assumed that Akashi caught his lack of focus and reminded him to pay attention since the grey-haired teen caught his captain frowning slightly at Nijimura). Chihiro looked up at the game for a moment as well and whistled. "That shooting guard knows what he's doing."

"Yep, he's definitely improved." Something in the way Nijimura said that threw Chihiro off and he turned to see their manager watching the shooting guard with a fond look in his eyes.

"Do you know him?" Chihiro asked, curious, and Nijimura nodded.

"Yeah. I met him in the states. It's hard to forget seeing someone that pretty punch a guy in the face. We played a few games together before I came back here." The fond look in his eyes increased and Chihiro was surprised to feel a bit of annoyance at that. Akashi seemed equally displeased.

Though that may have been because of the Yousen player that approached their team during the break between the first and second halves.

It was the shooting guard they had been talking about earlier, and as he jogged closer a smile lit up his face. "Shuu!" the teen called out, and Nijimura snapped his head around to look at him, surprised.

"Tatsuya," their manager greeted with a smile. Chihiro saw Hayama start to go near them, only to be held back by Nebuya, then turned back to watch the reunion. "I didn't expect to see you so soon, all things considered. How have you been?"

"Not too bad. Atsushi's a bit of a pain, but he at least listens to me most of the time." Nijimura laughed at his mild complaint and the two talked warmly for a few more minutes before the shooting guard left with a smile and friendly wave at their manager. Nijimura seemed happy to have spoken with him, but Chihiro could feel the waves of displeasure radiating from most of the other first-string members, the greatest source of it being their captain.

He was not surprised to see the game end with them doubling Yousen's score.

* * *

"You guys trained way too hard this time," Shuuzou reprimanded them, his hands brutally digging into Kotarou's shoulders as he massaged away the strain. The small forward had been about to say something but all that came out was a groan of pleasure as he pushed back against his hands.

"Why are you so good at this?" He demanded to know instead, whining in relief when one of Shuuzou's hands worked on the back of his neck and made the headache he hadn't even noticed disappear. Okay, he was definitely going to pay his roommate to do this regularly. Just like how he paid for groceries so that the other boy could cook regularly.

"I was benched for the entire second half of my third year in middle school, so I had some of the other benchwarmers teach me," Shuuzou answered, checking along the rest of his back carefully before pushing his shoulder to move him slightly and grabbing one of his hands. "I also worked at a massage place for a while. It was surprisingly more fun than you might think it would be."

If the shoulder massage was heaven, then what Shuuzou was doing to his hand had just moved the other teen from "awesome nii-san" to "minor deity" in Kotarou's mind.

"Would you stop that, Kotarou? You make it sound so indecent," his nee-san scolded, looking a little annoyed as Kotarou continued making happy sounds in response to the massage. Eikichi, the first person to get a massage after their brutal practice that day, had fallen asleep the moment Shuuzou had stopped working on him and was snoring in the corner.

Mayuzumi was just trying to read one of his light novels, but would twitch whenever Kotarou made too loud a noise. His grip on his book was also suspiciously tight.

Akashi was outright staring at him, and the small forward could admit that it unnerved him whenever he exited the blissed out state Shuuzou was putting him in. Akashi was a great captain, but he got weird about having to share their manager's attention with them.

Far too soon in Kotarou's opinion, Shuuzou finished and stood up to move to one of the others. Kotarou kind of fell into a lucid unconsciousness after that, awake but only just. He heard the others talking around him but honestly couldn't be bothered to move until he heard a weird sound. The small forward tried to identify it but just couldn't place what the strange rumbling sound was or where it was coming from.

With a reluctant grumble, Kotarou opened his eyes and looked around. Mayuzumi and Reo had both gotten massages already it appeared, and had joined Eikichi in dreamland. Kotarou then found the source of the sound that had woken him and froze.

It was Akashi. He was lying on Shuuzou's lap with his face pressed to their manager's stomach and his arms tight around the noirette's middle. Shuuzou for his part didn't seem bothered by Akashi's _cuddling_ (and the thought alone caused Kotarou's mind to shiver in horror) and was reading the light novel he must have taken from Mayuzumi, one hand holding the book and the other hand gently running through Akashi's hair, occasionally scratching at his scalp. The rumbling sound got louder and Kotarou blinked.

The rumbling sound was coming from Akashi.

Akashi was making the sound.

Akashi was…purring?

It was at that point that Kotarou's mind gave up entirely and he either fell back asleep or fainted.

* * *

"On a lighter note," the crazy redhead began, and Taiga nearly snorted. The psycho just attacked him with a pair of _scissors_; any note at this point will be lighter than what just happened. "I think many of you would like to know that a senpai of ours has joined the Rakuzan team as its manager."

Aomine snorted. "Why would we care? All of our senpai in middle school were weak."

Before he could go on a voice cut in, unamused. "Say that again, Aomine, and I'll remind you why you don't say shit like that to my face."

Taiga was surprised when Aomine stopped talking immediately, looking panicked and shocked. The other Miracles appeared just as surprised, even Kuroko, and Taiga couldn't tell if he was surprised or disappointed when the speaker appeared. He had black hair and grey eyes, and was wearing the Rakuzan team jacket over his shirt and jeans. He was actually a little shorter than Taiga's height, closer to Tatsuya's, but that didn't stop the fact that he had just shut Aomine up with a few words.

Kuroko was the first one to break the silence that had befallen the group. "Nijimura-senpai, I wasn't aware that you were back in Japan. I take it everything went well?"

The guy – Nijimura – nodded. "Dad's doing fine. They all decided to stay in America but told me I could go to school here if I could get a good scholarship, and before I knew it Rakuzan snatched me up."

"Shuuzou wished to focus more on his studies, so he became our manager rather than a regular on the first-string." Akashi added, and Taiga was surprised when Nijimura scowled a little and flicked the leader of the Generation of Miracles on the forehead. Aomine cringed.

Akashi blinked a little before shifting and looking down slightly. "Apologies, Nijimura-san." He sounded somewhat petulant, but Taiga was more fascinated with the other Miracles' enraptured faces as they stared at their former captain _apologizing_.

Nijimura sighed. "It's fine Akashi; I know you forget sometimes." He then ruffled the captain's hair and Aomine made a whining sound that resembled a dying vehicle. Kise somehow managed to look the equivalent to that sound.

"I want senpai to ruffle my hair!" He whined, and Nijimura laughed a little.

"Tell you what," he said. "Find me after the Winter Cup ends, and I'll ruffle your hair. Deal?" Kise and Aomine nodded emphatically at his words and he gave them an amused smile.

Once they all left, Kuroko turned and looked at Taiga and Furihata. "This isn't good," he said. "Remind me to talk about Nijimura-senpai before we face against Rakuzan, Kagami-kun."

Taiga blinked at him. "Why?"

"I'll explain when the time comes."

Eventually the time did come, and in the silence that followed Kuroko telling them about his middle school years, Taiga reminded him. "Oi, Kuroko, you wanted to tell us something about Nijimura, right?"

Captain blinked, confused. "Nijimura was your first captain, right?"

Kuroko nodded. "That is correct. Nijimura-senpai was a great leader in our first two years of middle school, but circumstances made him give Akashi-kun the position of captain before our second year ended." Kuroko took a deep breath. "Nijimura-senpai is now the manager of Rakuzan, and I fear that this game will be even harder than we thought it would be."

Captain made a disbelieving sound. "And why do you think that?"

"Do you know why cats bring their owners prey that they catch?"

The team flailed a little at the non-sequitur but Kiyoshi answered gamely. "They do it to provide for their owners, right? Or to prove that they're adept hunters?"

Kuroko nodded again. "Yes. In this case, we'll go with both. Cats like to present prey to their owners or other cats as a gesture to show that they can provide for the other and to impress them. We will be facing a team that is led by a player who subconsciously follows that exact same thought process."

He received uncomprehending stares. "What?"

Kuroko huffed. "Akashi-kun liked to try and impress Nijimura-senpai by talking strategy with him and crushing other teams using those strategies. I doubt that has changed."

Taiga gave him a look that was partially horrified. "So you're saying that Akashi is like a cat defeating other teams and presenting them to Nijimura for approval?"

Kuroko nodded.

Taiga stared at him a little longer, before voicing what they were all thinking. "That's kind of messed up."

* * *

*Omake*

When Kotarou was dragged up to his room by Shuuzou following the massage, the orange-haired boy had enough curiosity left in him to annoy Shuuzou into petting him on the head. The noirette gave him a look but obliged and patted him on the head.

Kotarou didn't feel any different and was going to dismiss his idea until Shuuzou scratched him on the head as well. And the small forward nearly hit the ground from his muscles suddenly relaxing completely.

He now gets into hissing contests with Akashi from time to time whenever he wants his nii-san's attention and Akashi keeps hogging him.

Shuuzou just seems to ignore it.

*End Omake*

* * *

Not gonna lie, this was actually a lot of fun to write. Akashi just makes me think of a giant cat sometimes, how he thinks he's always right and that everything he receives is his due and gosh darn it it's hilarious! And then it was like, "so who would he deign to call his 'owner'?" And the only person who came to mind was Nijimura. And thus this story.

This will be the last story I post before returning to college. So expect my posting speed to drop significantly.

Please review.

Ja ne!


End file.
